Dictionary

harrowing en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈhæɹəʊ.ɪŋ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

By surface analysis, harrow + -ing.

Meanings

1. (formal) Causing pain or distress; harrying.
   • Toward the end of the war, Benoit was sent off on his own with forged papers; he wound up working as a horse groom at a chalet in the Loire valley. Mandelbrot describes this harrowing youth with great sangfroid. 2013 January 14, Brian Hayes, “Father of Fractals”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, page 62:
   • Harrowing journeys down the dark roads of anger, violence, and madness 2006, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: Killer Smile, Dark Horse Books, cover text:

Forms

Deriveds

harrowingness · unharrowing · harrowingly

Translations (35)

de grauenvoll (causing pain or distress) · pt dilacerante (causing pain or distress) · ru душераздира́ющий (causing pain or distress) · nl verstorend (causing pain or distress) · nl verschrikkelijk (causing pain or distress) · fr navrant (causing pain or distress) · no opprivende (causing pain or distress) · fi tuskaisa (causing pain or distress) · sv hemsk (causing pain or distress) · da rystende (causing pain or distress) · fi tuskallinen (causing pain or distress) · fi raastava (causing pain or distress) · de erschütternd (causing pain or distress) · pl udręczony (causing pain or distress) · it straziante (causing pain or distress) · hu szívszaggató (causing pain or distress) · es desgarrador (causing pain or distress) · de quälend (causing pain or distress) · ga léanmhar (causing pain or distress) · da oprivende (causing pain or distress) · he מענה (causing pain or distress) · cmn 使人痛苦的 (causing pain or distress) · es angustioso (causing pain or distress) · ru го́рестный (causing pain or distress) · cmn 慘痛的 /惨痛的 (causing pain or distress) · de grauenhaft (causing pain or distress) · ru мучи́тельный (causing pain or distress) · fr éprouvant (causing pain or distress) · fi sydäntäraastava (causing pain or distress) · he מְיַסֵּר (causing pain or distress) · sv upprivande (causing pain or distress) · ga coscrach (causing pain or distress) · nl vreselijk (causing pain or distress) · fi riipaiseva (causing pain or distress) · pt perturbador (causing pain or distress)

harrowing en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈhæɹəʊ.ɪŋ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

By surface analysis, harrow + -ing.

Meanings

1. The process of breaking up earth with a harrow.
   • The field received two harrowings.
2. Suffering, torment.
3. Ravaging; hostile incursion; spoliation; intentional widespread destruction.
   • Scientists who complain about the helplessness of politicians might consider the desolation in England which followed the harrowing of the north by William the Conqueror or the state of the Palatinate long after the end of the Thirty Years War[.] 1956 April 14, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Chicago, page 122, column 1:
4. Ravaging; hostile incursion; spoliation; intentional widespread destruction. ▸ Christ's ravaging or hostile incursion of Hell, conducted between his crucifixion and resurrection, in which he liberated the souls of the righteous held captive by Satan.
   • In the harrowing, Christ sweeps down upon death, hell, and the Devil, smashes down the doors of hell, and triumphantly carries the just off to heaven. 1986, Jeffrey Burton Russell, Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages, →ISBN, page 108:
   • The motif of the harrowing of hell was highly influential in the Insular world. 2002, Michael W. Herren, Shirley Ann Brown, Christ in Celtic Christianity: Britain and Ireland from the Fifth to the Tenth Century, →ISBN, page 157:
   • As in other myths, like Christ's harrowing of hell, the initiate descends into the netherworld for the magical three days. 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 178:
   • But Juliana's uniquely powerful chaining of the devil is surely meant to recall Christ's harrowing of hell. 2013, Robert E. Bjork, The Cynewulf Reader, →ISBN, page 153:

Forms

Coordinates

ploughing

Deriveds

harrowing of hell

Hypernyms

tillage

Translations (12)

tl sakalmot (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · ru боронова́ние (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · la occātiō (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · fi äestys (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · es escarificación (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · it erpicatura (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · ru рыхле́ние (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · hu boronálás (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · de Eggen (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · fi äestäminen (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · ru бороне́ние (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow) · ru культива́ция (the process of breaking up earth with a harrow)

harrowing en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈhæɹəʊ.ɪŋ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

By surface analysis, harrow + -ing.

Meanings

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present) present participle and gerund of harrow.
   form of harrow